Sharlene ...
I have been talking to a few other friends in the industry here and have found out some interesting information.
The gall bacteria has been in the growing grounds in southern California for decades. The production since WW II was such that budders had a quota to bud 5,000 roses per day each. When the roses were harvested they were treated so that the bacteria was not spread throughout the US.
Once the growing fields were sold and production moved to other locations, the new producers did not know to take this precaution. Recently, it was discovered that the roses they were shipping were infected. These are responsible people. They stopped shipping the roses and destroyed over 150,000 roses and have changed their production methodology to treat plants before shipping in the future. So, I am not naming names.
I do not know if nurseries that received infected plants before the problem was identified destroyed their stock or shipped it back to the producers or sold the roses. I know the nursery up here did not. However, the guy that owns the nursery up here is unethical that way. I never buy anything from him.
Your second line of defense is not to plant the rose immediately, but to quarantine the rose by planting it in a container. When you feel it is safe to plant it into the garden, then that's your next step. Since Galltrol is banned in Europe, that might not be a bad idea. Of course, it depends on how many roses you add to your garden in a given year ...
